This invention relates to a playard. More specifically, this invention relates to a playard having corner panels to isolate the legs of the playard from the interior space of the playard.
An exemplary playard is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,437 to Dillner et al., which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Playards provide an enclosed safe environment in which a child can be placed to sleep or to play. Although a conventional playard can come in many shapes, it generally is rectangular in shape and includes an upper support assembly, a lower support assembly, and four legs that extend between the support assemblies at each corner of the rectangle. The playard typically can be folded from an erect position to a folded position for transport and storage. The present invention provides additional features to improve the controlled environment of conventional playards.
The present invention relates to a playard. The playard can include a leg, a flexible side panel, and a corner panel. The flexible side panel hugs against the leg so that the flexible side panel forms first and second side panel portions extending at an angle relative to each other about the leg to form a corner of the playard. The corner panel attaches to the inner sides of the angled first and second side panel portions. The corner panel is spaced from and covers the leg. The corner panel can comprise a flexible sheet stretched between the angled first and second side panel portions. In addition, the corner panel and portions of the first and side panel portions can form a corner pocket that hides the leg therein.
According to the invention, the corner pocket can have a triangular cross-section. The portions of the side panel portions meet at a vertex of the triangular corner pocket, and the corner panel is positioned opposite the vertex and forms a side of the triangular corner pocket.
Further, a preferred embodiment of the playard includes three additional legs. The flexible side panel hugs all four legs to form a substantially rectangular area, with four corners, each of the three additional legs having an associated corner panel. In one embodiment, the legs of the playard can be bowed inwardly; in another embodiment, the legs of the playard can be bowed outwardly; and, in yet another embodiment, the legs can be straight.
The playard also can include a flexible bottom panel that connects to a lower end of the side panel. A floor board can be positioned above the bottom panel. In such an embodiment, each of the corner panels can terminate above the bottom panel with a gap therebetween to accommodate a respective corner of the floor board. The gap can be substantially equal to or greater than a thickness of the floor board at the respective corners.
In another aspect of the present invention, a four-sided playard having four legs and four upper support rails is provided. The four upper support rails connect upper portions of the four legs. The playard also has a lower support assembly connected to lower portions of the four legs, a bottom panel, and a side panel wrapped around the four legs to form four angled corners. The side panel is connected to the bottom panel. The playard further has four corner panels. Each corner panel is associated with and covers one of the four angled corners and hides the respective leg. Each corner panel is spaced from the respective leg to isolate the leg.
Another aspect of the invention relates to a method of isolating a leg of a playard positioned at a corner portion thereof. The method includes positioning a corner panel against inner sides of a flexible side panel adjacent a location where the side panel hugs the leg and forms first and second side panel portions extending at an angle relative to each other about the leg to form the corner. The method also includes securing the corner panel to the inner sides of the angled first and second side panel portions. According to the method, the corner panel is spaced from and covers the leg.